Aeriae: Old School Composure

Electronic ambience and syncopated chaos meet in the middle as the quirky and warped beats of Sydney producer Aeriae come to fruition with his ‘Nurse 2 Alyssa Type’ EP.

The '80s were a big influence on many, including Aeriae aka Wade Clark, who uses computer game effects and film scores throughout his music. It's an aspect of his creations that allowed his musical project to flourish.

“Going to films that had electronic scores was probably the main thing. We were early computer adopters at home, and I had an Apple 2, but that obviously wasn't a very good music making device. I'd also try to play the old Commodore 64 console tunes on the piano. Films like John Carpenter’s 'Escape From New York' had scores I fell in love with though. It was there onwards I had a growing interest in instrumental music.”

The style of music that Wade pursues is inherently abstract, and draws on many different elements to form a complete sound. As complex as it all is, he has a clearcut idea on how he tackles every project.

“The way I do it is like an old fashioned composer of orchestral music. It's a slowish process and I'm a bit of a perfectionist, so I keep revisiting my sounds, but I just work one note at a time. I think that's an important characteristic of this type of music, to have a kind of aesthetic that is consistent.”

It's evident that film and computer generated worlds have always been something that Wade portrays through Aeriae’s musical atmosphere. But Wade says the idea of taking it into a live setting is still at the forefront of his thinking.

“I've found it quite exciting because before I did any live shows at all with Aeriae, I never saw myself as the type of person who'd ever get on a stage; completely the opposite, because in the past I had anxiety problems. Then the motivation to do it just rose. I play a higher pace, easier-to-grasp- immediately type of music. Essentially it's designed for you to listen to it a lot and get a lot more out of it.”

On the subject of his most recent EP – which was named after a character from 'Resident Evil' – Wade explains the release is a stepping stone for another body of work.

“The EP was something that came out of me being involved with Clan Analogue. We wanted to warm the ground with a release, so I guess once I finished the first record I immediately began working on tracks for ‘Victris’. The trick is, I work on a lot of different things which means the pace of them is about 20 percent. I suppose if anything, the amount of time I had to spend on them was really good, and I think it will be even better when [‘Victris’] comes out in possibly a couple of months time.”